Muskets can also be used as clubs in a pinch.įirearms might not have upset the series' delicate combat balance, but their scary lethality does discourage some of the more gung-ho tactics that made the original titles such rollicking good fun. In single- or multiplayer, as long as the sabre-slasher or pike-pusher picks his moments and uses cover and subordinate troops cannily, he's not at a significant disadvantage. The impact of the new range of matchlock rifles, sidearms and grenades is offset by their unwieldiness, long reload times and high cost. If, for some quaint reason, you consider it unsporting to slay the finest swordsman in all of Muscovy or the toughest Tatar in Tatary with a pistol ball to the forehead, you can stick to familiar low-tech weaponry (except crossbows - they're gone) and still be effective. The good news is there's still a role - albeit a shrunken one - for blade and bow in With Fire & Sword's violent version of 17th-century Eastern Europe. The obvious risk with sprinkling gunpowder into Mount & Blade's finely-seasoned combat broth was that all the old melee tools and missile-slingers would be rendered redundant in an instant. After a few days of play, I'm still not totally convinced it was a wise move, but I do have to admit that musket mayhem does have a certain smoke-wreathed charm. Clever Kievites SiCh Studio, realising that guns are amazingly rare in electronic entertainment, have rectified this.Īt first glance, the idea of adding boomsticks to an open-world RPG built around intricate swordplay, artful archery and fancy horsemanship might seem odd, not to say dangerous. What you couldn't do was pull a firearm from your belt and blow his brains out.
In the marvellous but Marmite-y Mount & Blade and its semi-sequel Warband, you could end a man's life by cracking his skull with a warhammer, slashing his vitals to shreds with a sword, pin-cushioning his abdomen with arrows, or thrusting a lance through his family jewels.
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